The Empresa Nacional del Petróleo (ENAP) and three private enterprises have inked an agreement to transform the Laredo Terminal in the Magallanes region into a development hub for the green hydrogen (H2V) industry.
Together with ENAP, which recently announced that it would launch its own green hydrogen pilot project in Magallanes and that it would produce its first molecule of this fuel using the energy of the Vientos Patagonicos wind farm, where the state company is the majority partner, the businesses HIF Chile, HNH Energy, and Total Eren took this first significant step.
The three private enterprises need the supporting infrastructure to have sufficient facilities for the reception and discharge of wind turbines and industrial plants as they construct H2V projects and its derivatives in the Magallanes region.
The redesign of Laredo is the first phase of ENAP’s plan to incorporate the infrastructure required for the growth of this new sector, while minimising negative environmental effects, hastening implementation times, and boosting Chile’s competitiveness in this market.
The agreement’s initial focus will be on conducting the necessary studies that will clarify the needs for reconfiguring Laredo, which ENAP built in the 1970s for the development of offshore platforms, in order to provide an ideal port solution for the loading and unloading of industrial equipment in the construction of projects related to green hydrogen and derivatives in Magallanes.
According to the broad outline of the agreement, it aims to specify the primary actions and conditions under which the parties will carry out the technical and economic feasibility studies required to convert the dock into a port within the following four months.
